Chapter 116: The Morning Ritual
The sedation of warm milk held Elise in a waking haze. Sunlight had abandoned the library, leaving it to the purring lamplight and the settling dust of old paper. She sat on Julian’s lap in his deep leather reading chair, his tailored wool trousers cool against the bare skin of her thighs where her dress had ridden up. His arm encircled her waist, holding the emptied bottle, his thumb stroking gentle arcs over her belly.
“Such a good girl for your bottle,” he murmured into her hair. “Now good girls get their cuddles, and then…”
His hand slid down. It didn’t pull aside the lace of her panties. It didn’t dive hungrily beneath the elastic. He simply let his palm rest heavily over the dampening cotton, the heat of her undeniable even through the fabric. Her breathing hitched. Her small hips rocked against the pressure, instinctively seeking more.
“And then they get conditioning,” he finished, his voice low and practical. She’d learned that voice. It was the voice that bypassed thought.
Conditioning wasn’t a sheet of pills or a reward. It was the core thing itself—the orgasm delivered as a biological surety while her conscious mind drifted. His